Jeb Bush on Common Core: “I don’t think it’s coercive”

EdWeek published an interview with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush at the Republican National Convention.  Here are the lowlights.

1. He praises Race to the Top

Bush cited Obama’s “efforts to challenge his own party on education reform.” And he said that [Race the the Top] helped “change behavior in places that people didn’t expect it would be changed.” He also gave the thumbs-up to Obama’s pick for an education secretary. “Arne Duncan was a great choice. … It could have been a lot worse.”

2. His view of the Common Core.

“I don’t believe that common core is a federal initiative,” Bush said. “A majority of the Republican governors support this. And we’ll see how the implementation goes. Romney’s view is that standards need to be benchmarked to the world. … Forty-five states and the District of Columbia have signed on to this. … I don’t think it’s coercive.”

He doesn’t think conditional NCLB and dangling RTTT funds to cash-strapped states is being coercive?  He and I obviously have a different opinion of what that word means.

One highlight though.  He doesn’t foresee himself being picked as the Secretary of Education.  We can only hope!  But I would be shocked if he were not picked should Romney win.  He wrote the forward to Romney’s education white paper and his fingerprints are obvious throughout.  As of right now when it comes to education under a Romney administration I see it as a “here’s the new boss, same as the old boss” proposition.

Update: The Christian Science Monitor finds five points of daylight between Mitt Romney and President Obama on education.  Yes there are differences, but none that will halt or even wind back federal involvement in education.